This 2-cd set is a sort of GD sampler platter, selected by bassist Phil Lesh from 30 years of live performances. The half-hour "In the Midnight Hour" is hilarious (at one point, Pig tries to get Bobby to dance with a girl in the audience!). There is also a tearfully beautiful version of Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" recorded just a few months before Jerry's death - the way he pours his own pain into the song is simply heartbreaking. There's not a single track that I don't like in this set, and some, such as "Hard to Handle" and "Jack-a-Roe," are my favorite versions in my collection. There's not much continuity in the album - you would never mistake this for a recording of a single concert - but the playing is outstanding throughout.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

This video is worthwhile for the single acoustic set that it contains. The electric sets that make of the rest of the video are pretty lackluster, with only minimal jamming. Hats off to the director for focusing on the band, though - I've seen a couple other Dead videos that focus way too much on the audience and don't even show many songs in their entirety. If you like the acoustic playing in this video, check out "Reckoning", the live album that was made from the same series of concerts from which Dead Ahead was created.

Just when you thought there were no more plant identification guides to be written, Peterson's came out with this interesting little guide. In its pages you will find the many thousands of uses that numerous cultures have found for North American plants. From dubious cure-alls to modern cancer drugs, this guide describes them all, and their poisonous look alikes. If you already have Peterson's tree or wildflower guides, be prepared for a bit of Deja vu - there is considerable overlap in both text descriptions and illustrations. Also, don't set up your folk remedy pharmacy just yet - this book doesn't give dosage advice for the vast majority of species it describes. The authors are very strident in saying that this book is for information only, not clinical advice. That said, you will find innumerable fascinating tidbits of herbal lore between its covers.

Over the years, I have joyfully delved again and again into Tolkien's fantastic world of Middle-earth. If you aren't careful, the lush descriptions and rich lore will enchant you into thinking this world is real. I sometimes have to pinch myself, remembering that Middle-earth is, after all, a world of imagination only. But what imagination! Still, I cannot recommend it unconditionally. The age-old criticism of this novel is that its conflict of good versus diabolical evil is too simplistic. Even if this is true, is this a flaw? Rather, it might be the most tragic aspect of Tolkien's tale - wouldn't we all rather live in an easy world of black and white distinctions, instead of our own unhappy, difficult and ambiguously gray world? That is why Middle-earth is so easy for people to love. Other notable criticisms are that Tolkien included no substantial female characters, and that dark-skinned characters are always on the side of evil. Truly, these are unfortunate anachronisms that mar an otherwise gorgeous story. Still, if you are able to willingly suspend your disbelief, you might find yourself enthralled by this epic masterpiece.

Ever watch bulldozers mauling a forest to make way for a residential subdivision? Ever think of doing something less than civil to stop it? If so, The Monkey Wrench Gang is your kind of novel. I couldn't stop laughing the first time I read it - the antiestablishment mayhem is nonstop, and Abbey's lush imagery makes you feel like a fifth member of the gang. This is fun reading - it isn't great literature by any stretch. Abbey was adept at puns and clever wordplay, but his characters are somewhat superficial and riddled with stereotypes. But at the heart of this novel is Abbey's passion and sorrow for the Desert Southwest, a love that we can all begin to understand as we follow his motley band on their crusade to save the wilderness.

This guide provides general advice concening nutrition, medicine, and equipment for pet birds, but it doesn't cover any topic in great detail. If you are interested in reading about the pros and cons of different species, keep shopping. This book covers species characteristics in an all-too-brief appendix. Also, this book is mostly aimed at the hookbills - parrots, cockatoos, budgies, etc. If you are interested in finches, mynahs, canaries and the like, you might find this book to be inadequate. However,I found this book to be very useful when I first got my parrot, and I still peruse it from time to time, especially the sections on diagnosing illness and medical care.

Natural history writing is often like porridge. Sometimes it is too hot, and we see nothing but the author's passion for the place he/she is describing. Other times it is too cold, and the writing is merely a dull list of species descriptions and scientific concepts. Weidensaul's book strides that narrow middle ground of being just right. His chapters span the length of the Appalachians, covering topics as diverse as soil science and hawk migrations. However, he never becomes bogged down in dry scientific writing: his love of the Appalachians resonates throughout the book. In a country where most natural history writers turn their eyes west, Weidensaul's book is a much needed overview of an underappreciated mountain range.

Loren Eiseley's dark, brooding prose is unique in the annals of nature writing. "The Unexpected Universe" features some of what are considered Eiseley's best essays. Heavily autobiographical and deeply personal, these essays are not cheerful ramblings on the joy of communing with nature. They are bleak, lonely musings on the human condition. Sometimes, Eisely's scholarly style gets the best of him - his penchant for expounding upon the works of obscure authors taints some of his work with a pompous air. But his best moments more than make up for his bad ones. Eiseley's universe can be profound, ethereal, and dreamlike. Life, Eisely shows, is a journey of discovery filled with moments of awe, fear and sorrow, and occasionally, even with moments of joy. His writings rekindle our sense of wonder for a universe whose intricacies and secrets extend far beyond the boundaries of human understanding.

Robert Burnham's classic work could rightfully be called the Bible of American amateur astronomers (in Europe, the Webb Society handbooks probably earn that title). Volume 1 begins with an overview of various aspects of observational astronomy, focusing on the various cataloging and classification systems used to describe stars, nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. The remainder of the three volumes consist of chapters for each constellation. Each chapter begins with a table that give a rundown of all objects of interest in that constellation. What follows are detailed descriptions of all notable objects in the constellation. Burnham did not confine himself to scientific facts - religion, archaeology, literature, and art all find their way into the text. Time has had a toll on the accuracy of the scientific facts that Burnham gives - many distances are wrong, and the discussions of some objects, particulaly remote or highly energetic ones, are seriously outdated. Still, these three books form the backbone of my astronomy library, and have grown battered with heavy use. They make for fascinating reading both beside the telescope and in the living room.